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Nausea coils in Olruggio's stomach, hot and heavy. Olruggio doesn’t understand what he’s looking at, hell he doesn’t even understand how he got here in the first place; but it doesn’t matter, because in front of him currently was Qifrey, or rather, a horror-show of his friend.
Qifrey’s limp form on the ground made it hard to discern, but Olruggio could see veins sprouting out of Qifrey’s now, both hollow eyes (when did he lose his left eye?) and roots intertwining and merging into his long flaccid limbs connecting him to the ground. The freckles on Qifrey’s once delicate hands that Olruggio had adored so much before this, has been replaced with faint patterns that reminded Olruggio of the annual rings on trees. Olruggio felt absolutely sick.
‘Do you like what you see?’
Olruggio whips his head around to find the source of voice that was far too close for his liking, to find…nothing. He can feel his heart rate pick up and his hands start getting clammy with fear. Olruggio would like to imagine himself as a brave witch, but the situation he finds himself in greatly challenges the borders of Olruggio’s fear.
‘I'm over here! Don’t get confused now.’ The voice taunts the witch.
Olruggio turns around to face in the direction of Qifrey again to find the source of the voice. The whiplash of confusion made him light-headed. When he turned, he saw that Qifrey was still in the same state from when Olruggio’s gaze left him, but now instead of only one person, Olruggio was met with a Brimhat standing next to where Qifrey was curled up. The regalia of the Brimhat was adorned with ornaments and bells that jingled at the slightest movement, but most importantly, its hat covered its face with a huge eye that left a bad taste on Olruggio’s tongue.
‘YOU! Who are you? What did you do to him?’ Olruggio challenged the Brimhat with the most assertive voice he could choke out, his hand shaking as he slowly reached for the ready-made spells hidden in the folds of his cloak.
‘Who me? I didn’t do anything! This is the product of his own doing, it's up to you to save him.’
A beat.
‘There's a catch though.’ A sly smile peeked its way through under the mask. Olruggio felt like throwing up.
‘Spit it out then!’ Olruggio swore he said it with more power, but as soon as the words left his mouth he cringed at how small he sounded.
‘Predis Olruggio of The Torch, guide your friend here out the underworld. You can walk, but it won’t be as you planned. You can’t be hand-in-hand. You can’t be arm-in-arm, or even by each other's side! You must let him follow you from behind and you will not turn around to make sure if he’s coming too. If you do, then he’ll stay here in the underworld forever. And there’s absolutely nothing you can do.’
‘What– Do you think this is some sort of joke to you? I can end you right here, right now.’ Olruggio’s voice lowered to a dangerous tone as his hand gripped his magic seals harder. To be completely honest, Olruggio didn’t understand half of the brimhat’s gibberish but even without the context, not a single part of Olruggio wanted to play into the Brimhat’s charade especially with Qifrey’s life at stake.
‘I’d like to see you try.’ The Brimhat’s cunning voice had a teasing note towards the end that made the hairs on Olruggio’s nape stand. Before Olruggio could even throw a remark back, the brimhat snapped its fingers. The witch couldn’t believe his eyes as he saw all the roots and veins trapping and torturing his friend slither away into the ground letting Qifrey free.
‘Don't make me repeat the rules again, Olruggio. Guide him out of here.’ And in an instant, the brimhat disappeared with another snap of its fingers, vanishing into a whirlwind of fabric and jingles.
Olruggio’s body was screaming for him to instantly rush to Qifrey’s side, but in his mind , there was a cacophony of voices urging him to choose a direction and start walking. No matter how hard he tried to ignore it, it felt as if he was a puppet on strings being willed to put one foot in front of the other and start trudging forward abandoning all his instincts to just hold Qifrey in his arms. And so he did just that. He walked with a heavy heart but when he heard the tell-tale sounds of rustling fabric and foot-steps falling in place behind him, Olruggio started being determined and putting more volition into every step he took to get the both of them out of this place, until he couldn’t.
Nothing could prepare Olruggio for the gut-wrenching cries of pain he could hear fall from Qifrey’s mouth from behind him the whole walk. When he first agreed to this test, he couldn't have even imagined how Qifrey could make these horrible sounds, but now with nothing else to fill the silence Olruggio had to fight every single fibre in his being to not turn around to see whether Qifrey was okay. He couldn’t even be sure if Qifrey was still walking behind him and keeping pace, it was pure torture to Olruggio. All his life he was seen as a guide, ‘The Torch’ in official terms, but in the moment where it matters most, he couldn’t even turn back to see if he’s doing a good job.
Witch hat missing and heavy cloak discarded somewhere along the path; Olruggio was stripped of what made him a witch, but he paid no heed to any of it. In that moment he wasn’t ‘Predis Olruggio of The Torch’, he was Qifrey’s only hope of making it out of this hell-hole. Well to be fair, Olruggio has seen himself in that light his whole life. To Olruggio, he was Qifrey’s friend before he was a witch. Loving Qifrey came easier to Olruggio compared to any magic he’s ever mastered and for Qifrey, he would do absolutely anything.
Olruggio tried to push down the thick lump that formed in his throat as he kept trudging forward every time his thoughts start to wander towards the tree Qifrey was trapped by, or rather in when this whole mess even began. The more he thought about it, the more he couldn’t help feeling like there's an aching gap in his memories where that tree belongs. There’s something in the back of his mind screaming that he’s seen those roots before, but the more Olruggio spends time pondering about it, the more sick Olruggio becomes. And so he settled for just putting one foot in front of another and ignoring the pain that shoots through his chest as he hears Qifrey’s voice grow hoarse from crying out to him.
He felt like it’s been eons ever since he first made that deal with the brimhat to guide Qifrey out this hole. From running, to walking, to crawling, he persevered to keep moving forward. Amazingly, for the first time in his life, the gods looked upon Olruggio in favour and rewarded his tenacity in this endeavor. He could see a sliver of light a few metres ahead of him, and with that, all traces of fatigue ebbed away from his body as he ran towards this miracle determined to bring Qifrey to land in one piece. He was ready to go home with Qifrey. Their home.
As soon as he felt the sun shining on his face by the mouth of the cave opening, he felt the relief of making it out wash over him. Hot tears threatened to fall down his cheeks as he realized he could finally turn back to see Qifrey, the one temptation he’s been fighting the whole way through the underworld that could finally be indulged. Olruggio wastes no time turning around to look at the man he's been leading for what felt like years.
Only to be met with sheer horror.
Qifrey hadn’t made it out yet. He was still in the dark.
The moment Olruggio's mind digested this, he could see roots from the ground start wrapping around Qifrey’s limbs in a manner that looked way too tight to not have hurt. As tendrils snake out of Qifrey’s left eye-socket and wood cuts its way out of his body, guttural screams echo in the air between them. Olruggio couldn’t move a muscle in his body. He watched in absolute terror as Qifrey convulsed on the ground as pain seized his entire being. After a split moment of computing what was actually happening, Olruggio tried to spring into action by running back towards Qifrey to do something, anything to get this nightmare to end.
But before Olruggio was even in arm's reach, Qifrey was torn away from him, being dragged on the ground by roots that seemed to appear out of nowhere. In that moment Qifrey’s expression that was contorted in pain and fear seared its place in the back of Olruggio's mind as something that will haunt him for every hour of his entire life. He helplessly watched as Qifrey got smaller and smaller the farther he was dragged away.
‘OLRUGGIO IT HURTS.’ Qifrey shreds his vocal chords trying to call out to him.
‘OLRUGGIO!’ His voice just seemed to be getting louder and louder even though Olruggio couldn’t see him anymore.
‘O̸̺̪͒̄̆͋̏̂̏͘Ḷ̸̲̘͔̝̃́͑̀̏R̸̥̮͚͓̰̳͕̜̪̍͒̌͒̀̇͌̋̕ͅƯ̶̡͙̥̟̝̻̘͕͚͎͋̄͐̇͒́͘G̷̛̙̟̞̪͕͇̗͕̦̊͑́̆̽G̷̨̧͈̺̫̦̬̖̺͊̂̅̏̏̽͘̕͠͝I̶͈̘̠͓̦̬̻̓̈́͑͛̋͑̕O̷̢̜̞͖̻̻͊̓͘̕’ His eardrums felt like they were on the verge of bursting.
Ō̵͕̭͔̲͚̤̮͙͌Ļ̴̘̣͙̊͗R̸̢͖͖̘̦̱̞̠̓̈́̿̓͌̅͐ͅU̸̢͚͓̱̞̝̥̬͊͒͒G̴̨̯͉͗͋̈́Ģ̵̻̹̻̹̲̟̽͌̂̒͑̚̚͠ͅĬ̵̡̛̖̰̻̬͐̓̋̎͆̋ͅṐ̷͓̺͚ ̷̼̰̳͓̿́̅͠͝I̶̡̛̼͈̼͙̖̦͐̈́̓̿͑́̉̄͜T̴̛̺̬͊̚ ̴͓̪̀̋̆̆̊̏̏͘̕Ḣ̴̱̱͚̠̽Ǘ̵͇̆̓͆̓͆͐̍͌R̶̜̝̤͈̪̈̃̿T̷̡̛̘̆̾̿́̈́̊͝S̷̨̳͎̯̗͇̅̈́̐̂–
Olruggio blinks his eyes open for what felt like the first time.
“Olruggio! Olly, my goodness you scared me.” A gentle, yet affirming voice cuts through the haze.
And just like that, Olruggio was back at the atelier, in front of the hearth. Not hell, not his nightmares, home. The voice that came from above him sounded clear and Olruggio almost shed tears at how this voice sounded nothing like the shrieks he heard in his dream. The smell of mountain apples and cinnamon wafts through the air as the afternoon sun peeks through the windows, enveloping the atelier in warm hues. The first thing that Olruggio realized when he came to was Qifrey’s worried face and firm hands on his shoulders that kept him anchored to reality, the second thing he noted was how incredibly uncomfortable he felt in his sweat-soaked dress shirt on the couch.
“Qifrey, you’re safe, y-you’re here..?” Olruggio whispered in absolute bewilderment as if he didn’t just see Qifrey get sent back to hell for eternity right in front of his very eyes.
“Of course I am, I’m here Olly, always am. It was just a nightmare, we’re all safe at the atelier and the girls are all playing outside.” Olruggio notes how Qifrey is reassuring him in the same tone he uses whenever he needs to comfort the girls. Lithe fingers made their way through thick dark hair and Olruggio let out a soft sigh as the adrenaline from the nightmare wore off.
A beat. The silence was filled with a mixture of sounds of both their breathing and Olruggio’s beating pulse in his ears. Olruggio swears he saw an emotion that could only be described as longing behind Qifrey’s eye but before he could lift up his right hand to cup Qifrey’s cheek–
“I’ll brew some tea for the both of us hm? It’ll help you calm your nerves.” Qifrey stood up abruptly away from arms reach. And just like that Qifrey was taken away from him for the second time that afternoon.
Olruggio pays it no mind though, as long as whatever he just dreamt about wasn’t a reality, Olruggio would be okay. His eyes tracked Qifrey’s movements as he made a bee-line to their kitchen, watching as his figure disappeared into the halls. But in the corner of his eye, Olruggio swore he saw scars on the man’s upper back through his shirt akin to tree veins. Olruggio feels sick all over again.